The Long Hot Summer Begins

After Karen Handel’s victory in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District, the Republican majority in Congress has the wind at its back. Republican Ralph Norman’s victory in South Carolina the same day makes it four out of four victories for the GOP in special elections this year to fill seats vacated by representatives appointed to senior jobs in the Trump administration.
But the Republicans also face a strong headwind — the spreading violence of the radical left, energized by months of goading and abetting from major Democrats and resulting in violence from Washington to Chicago to Berkeley, culminating in the attempted “baseball massacre” of pro-life Republicans by an ardent socialist and Bernie Sanders volunteer.
In congressional district offices across the country, leftist activists have harassed staffers, created havoc, and otherwise offered their fans in the media the opportunity to report on the “strong anti-Trump sentiment”; and now the radicals are being coordinated nationally.
Veteran newsman Paul Bedard reports that a leftist group called “Indivisible” is planning “a summer of heated protests . . . against Republican House and Senate members, with organizers already forecasting clashes with police and staffers.”
The radicals’ emphasis on “staffers” is especially pernicious, because the thousands of Senate and House staffers do not enjoy any protection by security details, either in Washington or in their home states and districts.
Of course, the left will quickly attempt to disown violent Democrats who attack Republicans — they’ll even blame such attacks on the victims themselves, as happened when radical Democrat James Hodgkinson set out to shoot as many pro-life Republicans as possible.
No staffer can be sure that the screaming, spitting, and shoving “Indivisibles” will not assault them the way Hodgkinson did. In fact, the group’s leaders are training its rabble-rousers and rioters to be as confrontational as possible, in order to garner attention from friendly journalists who are desperate to report “fake news.”
In order to dominate more than one news cycle, “Indivisible” is planning long sit-ins in Congressional and Senate offices throughout the country, taking advantage of the August doldrums when Congress is out of session.
Republican staffers, however, have indicated that the leadership might apply some tactical jiu-jitsu of its own, and turn these radical threats of borderline violence on their head.
Sensing growing national support, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell might consider canceling the traditional August recess and keep Congress working in Washington to pass two of the key bills spearheading the presidential campaign — tax reform and the repeal of Obamacare.
Not only would these efforts keep Republican momentum going, it would also demonstrate that it isn’t “business as usual” in Washington any more.
One additional benefit can’t be ignored: In Washington, Senate and House offices enjoy several layers of world-class security. Local law enforcement in home districts are not equipped to deal with riots and assaults — witness how police in Berkeley, Calif., stood by and “observed” while masked protesters wearing helmets and bullet-proof vests assaulted College Republicans waiting to hear a libertarian speaker.
Not so on Capitol Hill. There, waves of specially trained police, FBI, and Federal Marshals are prepared to deal with such situations in seconds. There, members and staff would be assured that they could go about the people’s business without being subjected to harassment and intimidation by trained thugs.
How hot will the summer be? How long? Stay tuned.